LOS ANGELES — When Robbie Ray appeared out of the bullpen in the National League wild-card game on Wednesday, it was clear Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was pulling out all the stops.

Ray had a breakout season in 2017, going 15-5 with a 2.89 earned-run average in 28 starts. The left-hander was particularly dominant in in five head-to-head starts against the Dodgers: 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA.

Now, because both Ray and Zack Greinke pitched in Arizona’s 11-8 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, neither pitcher will be available for Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Friday.

“Everything that Robbie gave us (Wednesday) told us that he feels good,” Lovullo said, “and we want him to walk into the throwing program today and (Friday) and just see where he’s at. So we haven’t quite determined the Game 2 starter, but we’re going to drill down to that as quickly as we possibly can. So we’ll keep that as TBA right now.”

Right-hander Taijuan Walker (9-9, 3.49) will start Game 1 instead, with Greinke the probable starter in Game 3 Monday in Phoenix.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he understood Lovullo’s decision to burn his two best starters in the wild-card game.

“It was a win-or-go-home game,” Roberts said.

Selfishly, he had to enjoy seeing Ray enter the game, right?

“You want my honest opinion?” Roberts asked, smiling.

He proceeded to give a diplomatic answer.

“It doesn’t change a whole lot because he would still start Game 5,” Roberts said of Ray. “So you still potentially could see him twice. Taijuan, he’s pitched well against us. (Zack) Godley, Zack (Greinke), obviously has had some success, and Ray has really got the best of us. So they’ve got a deep starting staff.”

For his part, Ray said Thursday that he felt the same as he does the day after throwing a bullpen session. He needed 34 pitches to get through 2-1/3 innings against the Rockies, allowing one run and striking out three.

Ray has only made three regular-season relief appearances in four major league seasons. Yet after watching the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins combine to use 11 pitchers in the American League wild-card game, Ray said he expected to see some action out of the bullpen Wednesday.

“I’m just kind of doing what’s asked of me at this point,” Ray said. “Whatever the team wants from me, I want the ball. If you don’t want the ball, you shouldn’t be here.”

WALKER RETURNS HOME

For Walker, Friday’s start represents a homecoming.

The Yucaipa native has made three starts in his career at Dodger Stadium, going 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA. In two starts here this season – his first with the Diamondbacks – Walker allowed only two runs in 11 innings.

This will be the first postseason start of his major league career.

“I think that was the biggest one I’ve learned, watching (Colorado Rockies pitcher) Jon Gray and even (Luis) Severino from the Yankees: we’re all young pitchers, first time throwing in the postseason,” Walker said. “The biggest thing is controlling our emotions and taking it one pitch at a time. You can’t go out there and let the adrenaline really get to you. You have to take a deep breath every pitch and really focus on each pitch.”

Walker said he typically leaves tickets for his wife, mother, sister and brothers when he pitches at Dodger Stadium.

“That’s about it,” he said. “Everyone else is kind of on their own.”

ALSO

Lovullo said he hasn’t finalized his 25-man roster for the series, or decided which of his starting pitchers would shift to the bullpen. The decision appears to be between right-hander Zack Godley and left-hander Patrick Corbin. The pitcher who doesn’t relieve is a possibility to start Game 4 of the best-of-five series.